Task of Doom
by Shadow Oblivion
Summary: Vexen refuses to eliminate Sora, so Marluxia reports the replica failure to Xemnas, who in turn gives Vexen his punishment...babysitting!
1. Chapter 1

I felt like writing something that (may be) funny, about a stupid reason for why Vexen hadn't wanted Marluxia to report to Xemnas about the Riku replica failure. I'm also writing this because I'm a bit stuck on a few of my other stories. I'm thinking that this will be a three to four chapter story. It'll mostly focus on Vexen.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts (2), just the stupid idea of what Xemnas could do if he had found out about the replica.

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Vexen watched the Riku replica run away from Sora. No! He wasn't supposed to run away! What should he do now?

Five minutes later...

Vexen had confronted Sora, then had portaled away, entering a room where Marluxia and the others were. Seeing the look upon Marluxia's face, Vexen knew that he was going to say something deaming and rude. How Marluxia had gotten to be in charge in the first place was beyond him.

"Vexen...your replica is a failure. This should be reported to the Superior." Marluxia said smugly.

_'What?!'_ Vexen looked at Marluxia in horror. "You wouldn't..."

"But I would...unless..." Marluxia trailed off with a smirk.

"Unless?" Vexen asked. He didn't like that look on the others' face.

"Unless...you go and eliminate Sora." Marluxia finished.

Vexen weighed his options. In the end, being reported to the Superior sounded better than being destroyed by the keyblade master. "No." Vexen said at length.

"What?" Marluxia asked, surprised.

"I won't." Vexen repeated, a little more loudly. He enjoyed the look of disbelief on Marluxia's face, but knew that Xemnas would soon find out about the runaway replica.

Marluxia smiled evilly. "Then I guess I have no choice but to report to the Superior..." He portaled away in a gust of rose petals, accompanied by crazed laughter.

Vexen wondered if he had had anything to drink. You couldn't really tell with the younger nobodies. They seemed to enjoy breaking the rules (or stretching them to the point of being broken). But now Vexen began to wonder what kind of punishment he would recieve. Xemnas probably wouldn't turn him into the dusk, since he usually did things right. Would the Superior send him out on a lot of missions? Or would he just order him to get the replica back? Vexen liked the idea of the last option

"Vexen." Came Xemnas' calm voice.

Vexen was jolted out of his thoughts when he noticed Xemnas' presence, standing several feet away. Ignoring Marluxia's more and more smug expression, he addressed Xemnas politly. "What is it Superior?"

"Marluxia's told me that your replica is a failure, and that you chose not to follow orders afterwards." Xemnas stated.

"It's not a failure! And why should I have to listen to _him_? He hasn't even been with the organization as long as I have!" Vexen snapped back in anger and annoyance.

"I put Marluxia in charge, which means that you should follow any orders he gives you." Xemans continued, as if he hadn't heard Vexen's angry outburst.

"..." Vexen didn't know what to say.

"Do you still refuse to carry out the order he claims to have given you?" Xemnas asked.

Vexen sighed. This statement needed a reply. Marluxia obviously hadn't told Xemnas the order. Vexen didn't blame him. If Marluxia had told Xemnas about the order to go and kill Sora, Xemnas would most likely be punishing him instead. "I do still refuse." There. He had said it, and now all he had to do was wait for his punishment.

Xemnas stared thoughtfully at Vexen for awhile, making Vexen wonder how severe of a punishment he would recieve.

"Vexen...you will be taken back to the castle, where you will babysit..." Xemnas began, then stopped as Vexen broke down completely.

"No! Anything but that! I'll do anything!" Vexen latched onto Xemnas' cloak, pleading for some other than that.

Marluxia was currently trying hard not to laugh, since the sight was highly amusing.

"I'm not changing my mind number four." With that, he led a still protesting Vexen through a portal, to where he's be 'babysitting.'

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Inside a room in the castle of the World that Never Was...

Xemnas was trying to leave the room, but Vexen kept stopping him. Xemnas was attempting to try and leave the Chilly Academic in a room full of unruly dusks.

"No Superior! Don't leave me alone with them!" Vexen pleaded. One of the dusks bounced over his head, causing him to lose his grip on Xemnas' cloak.

"Would you care to join them? I could find someone else to watch them." Xemnas asked Vexen cooly.

Vexen immediatly shut up and lowered his head in aknowledgement. Once Xemnas had left the room, the dusks began to jump around and play. Vexen retreated to the corner of the room, groaning. How long did he have to watch all these badly behaved dusks? Why didn't Xemnas just get rid of them?

All of the dusks in the room stopped moving, and a few approached Vexen.

Vexen gave them a bored look. "What do you want? If it's not important, then leave me alone."

The dusks seemed to be upset at this, before one asked Vexen why he was upset.

"Xemnas is making me watch you as a punishment." Vexen replied. He was talking to them now, and they probably wouldn't leave him alone now. He hadn't actually expected an answer.

All the dusks appeared to be amused at Vexen's words, and one of the dusks began to draw something on the dusty floor.

Vexen watched its movements. Once the dusk had finished drawing, it pointed to itself, then two others, then tapped the scribbles on the ground.

Vexen looked at the scribbles, then to the three dusks watching him. Vexen let out a slight laugh after deciphering the scribbles. "I've always wondered where you three had gotten to. I guess that must have been why Xemnas called it Organization XIII." The three dusks standing before Vexen were failed organization members. They had mysteriously disappeared one night, and no one heard from them again.

"So, Xemnas didn't find any of you worthy, so he changed you into dusks." Vexen stated, rather than asked.

The three dusks appeared very unhappy.

"Who are the other dusks?" Vexen asked, indicating the five others in the room.

The three dusks shrugged and didn't answer. Apparently, they didn't know if the other dusks had used to be anyone.

Vexen leaned back in the chair he was seated on. "Why hasn't anyone else figured out who you were?" Other organization members had watched these dusks before. Axel had come seriously close to incinerating them before Xemnas and Saix had intervened.

The dusks responded by telling Vexen that no one had spoken to them directly before.

Vexen sighed, then began to try and think of a way out of the room.

The dusks suggested that he take them out of the room with him, if Xemnas had told him to watch them. He'd still be able to keep an eye on them.

Vexen considered his options, then decided to agree with the dusks. "Very well, but don't go wandering off..." This probably wasn't such a good idea, but it beat sitting in a room for who knows how long with overly active dusks. Vexen headed for the door, followed by eight very excited dusks.

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Yep, very random and wierd. Please review and let me know if it was good or not. Any comments would be great (Kind of a stupid title, but oh well). This story will only be a few chapters long. It was just some idea I had come up with at three in the morning (before falling back asleep). I rated it T because there'll probably be some dusk bashing in the next chapter or something like that.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate it! And yes, I know this chapter is shorter, but I noticed that I hadn't updated this story for over a month, so...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts (2).

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Vexen exited the room with the eight dusks, trying to push away thought of what Xemnas would do if he caught him disobeying orders. Vexen scowled. He needed to punish Marluxia somehow for doing this to him. Vexen glanced up briefly to see that the eight dusks were still around him (they were leaping around and being excited).

Vexen went back to being lost in his thought again. What could he do to punish the scythe-wielding nobody? It had to be done secretly, and in a way that Xemnas couldn't trace it back to him...

Vexen was jolted out of his thoughts when one of the dusks began poking him. "What is it?" Then, Vexen noticed that five of the dusks had gone missing. "Where did they go?" Vexen demanded of the remaining three. When he saw that they seemed to be shrugging, Vexen heaved an exasperated sigh. Great. Just great. Now there were dusks loose. If Xemnas or Saix found out…

Vexen shuddered. He didn't want to think about it. "Come on, let's go find them." He told the dusks as he created a portal and walked through it. The three dusks followed, twitching with excitement.

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Demyx was hanging out in his bedroom, playing his sitar and singing softly. He was glad that he wasn't chosen to go to Castle Oblivion. There was a good chance that the six that were there would have to fight. And he didn't _really_ feel like fighting.

Demyx left off playing his sitar and singing, his eyebrows furrowed in worry. It was only a matter of time before Xemnas sent him on another mission. And the Superior _knew_ that he didn't like to fight. Demyx dismissed his sitar, sighing miserably. Great, now he was depressed. Maybe he should go and bother Roxas to cheer up or something.

Something darted past Demyx, causing the sitarist to jump in surprise. 'What was that?' He wondered, glancing around nervously. Demyx turned, and came face to face with a dusk hanging upside down, twitching. Demyx let out a surprised cry, and then gasped as two other dusks latched onto his legs. "What are you doing?! Noo! Let go of me!"

Thirty minutes later…

Demyx was huddled up in the corner, with three dusks leaping and bounding around him.

Demyx was rocking back and forth, muttering. "I'm in my happy place… I'm in my happy place…" Over and over.

The three dusks didn't seem to notice the effect they were having on Demyx, and continued to leap around and play.

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Inside Roxas' room…

Roxas and Luxord were playing Go Fish, since Roxas refused to play anything that remotely resembled poker (although Luxord convinced Roxas to include money).

At the moment, Roxas was winning, with many pairs, a small pile of munny in front of him.

Two dusks suddenly came into the room, and watched Roxas and Luxord until they noticed them.

"Hey Roxas."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think dusks know how to play card games?"

"Why?"

"It'd be more fun with more players."

"You better not be trying to get me to play poker with you and the dusks."

Luxord looked at the dusks. "Do you want to play poker?"

Roxas held back a laugh. A dusk...playing poker? That was like trying to get Larxene to be friendly.

After a few minutes of argument, Luxord finally managed to convince Roxas to play poker with him and the dusks. Surprisingly, the dusks actually knew how to play. More and more munny began piling up in front of the two dusks as they began to win each game.

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That was a bit odd. Oh well, please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter, or just leave some kind of comment.

I think there'll be one or two more chapters, depending on how long I can keep the story going (I'll probably come up with names for a few of the dusks at some point in the next chapter, and possibly the one after that). Dusks will be bashed in the next chapter, which I hope to get up between Friday and Monday, along with a few other chapters for other stories.

Until then, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the reviews! Again, I know this is a shorter chapter, but its what I could write for now. And I did make up names for three of the dusks, which was kind of fun (though they're a bit weird to me. Heh, guess that could be why Xemnas wouldn't want them. Their names don't make any sense. Although, without the x's, the names do unscramble to real names).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts (2). I do own the three dusks' names-I made them up awhile ago.

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Saix patrolled the halls, after having had a meeting with Xemnas. He was supposed to check and make sure that the remaining members in the castle were doing what they were supposed to do. Saix paused for a moment to watch Vexen sneak along the hall, followed by three dusks. Every once and awhile Vexen would pause and glance around nervously.

Saix watched this for a few minutes, until Vexen and the dusks disappeared around a corner. Saix blinked in confusion, then decided to follow and see what Vexen was up to. Wasn't he supposed to be at Castle Oblivion?

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Xemnas walked briskly down a hall, and entered the room where he had left Vexen and the eight dusks. He opened the door and entered it. "Vexen, you're needed back...at the..." Xemnas broke off, staring around the empty room. No Vexen. No dusks. Xemnas frowned. This was the right room... Xemnas stormed out of the room, and began to check all the hallways and rooms. How dare Vexen go against his orders!

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Vexen and the three dusks were hiding in a broom closet after hearing a voice. Vexen, not wanting to be seen, had hidden inside the closest. He and the dusks waited to see who was going to pass by the door. Soon, the voice became clearer.

"Hey! Want to go to the kitchen?" Came Demyx's voice. "There's some ice cream...I think...unless Roxas ate it all..."

Demyx rounded the corner with the three dusks that had been bothering him earlier. After realizing that they just wanted to play, Demyx immediatly befriended them.

Unfortunatly, Saix was headed in their direction, and Saix, annoyed that he had lost track of Vexen and the three dusks, decided to release some pent up anger.

Demyx let out a frightened yelp as Saix raced toward them with his claymore. Demyx flinched as Saix dispatched the three dusks quickly.

Saix shouldered his claymore and walked off. "Don't be a wimp Demyx. Go and find something useful to do."

Demyx pouted as Saix got closer away, but then stuck out his tongue at the breserker's back, before running off. Maybe he should find Roxas and bother him after all.

Once the hall was quiet again, Vexen led the dusks out of the broom closet, and towards an unused lab. Along the way, they passed the room with Roxas and Luxord, who were currently losing to the two dusks at poker.

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Inside the quiet of the laboratory, Vexen analyzed each of the three dusks, attempting to differentiate them. After over ten minutes of pondering, Vexen managed to figure out which were male and which were female.

The smaller dusk was the female one of the group, though Vexen noted that when the three had had an argument in the closet, she got the other two to shut up.

After another minute of thinking, Vexen managed to come up with some names. "Arizma?" He asked the female dusk. It must have been the right name from the reaction he received, jumping up and down. Vexen turned his attention to the two other dusks. "Nabrix and...Xidkr?" Those seemed to be right as well.

Vexen was silent again as he thought for a moment. Noticing that the dusks had begun to play again, Vexen went over to a bookshelf and found a large spiral folder with a lot of notes and research inside. He opened it up and looked through each page. He knew there was some way of turning someone back from a dusk...he just had to find it.

Five hours later...

Vexen had found a way to change the dusks back, but while Arizma, Nabrix and Xidkr wanted to change back, none would leave without the other dusks. So, Vexen had agreed to find the other dusks. Which brought him back to sneaking along the hall, hoping he didn't run into Xemnas or...

"Vexen. What are you doing?"

Vexne halted, before turning and seeing Saix standing a few feet away. "What do you mean?" Vexen asked. _'Hmpf, acting like he's all high and mighty...'_

"Aren't you supposed to be at Castle Oblivion?" Saix asked suspiciously.

Before Vexen could answer, Xemnas appraoched him from the opposite direction. "Vexen! Why didn't you follow orders?"

Vexen glanced between the two, quickly trying to figure out what to do.

Luckily for Vexen, Demyx decided to appear suddenly, falling through a portal and tumbling right ontop of Saix. Both fell to the ground, and Vexen managed to sneak away while Xemnas berated Demyx.

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Yeah...review if you like, and maybe let me know what you thought of this chapter. There'll only be one more chapter, and it'll just wrap things up. Until then, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews! This is the last chapter, and hopefully it turns out all right.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts (2).

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"Ah man…that was the last of my money…" Roxas said unhappily as one of the dusks swept a small pile of munny towards its already large pile of winnings. The other dusk had a similarly large pile.

Luxord narrowed his eyes on the dusks. They had to be cheating somehow. How else would they be winning every single game of poker?

Roxas _really _wanted to end the game there and now, but felt compelled to try and win back his lost munny. There was _no way_ he'd leave without it. Roxas couldn't believe that he'd actually agreed with Luxord to play poker with these dusks.

Luxord narrowed his eyes over his cards as he scrutinized one of the dusks. There was no way he'd keep losing. "All right, let's go. Beat this!"

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Vexen paused in the hallway, doubled over and gasping for breath. He really hadn't needed to come face to face with Saix, then Xemnas almost immediately after. Vexen silently thanked Demyx for choosing that moment to drop in out of a portal, for whatever reason.

Vexen straightened up and glanced around silently. Where in the world were those other dusks?

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Demyx smiled nervously at Xemnas and Saix as they glared at him in annoyance. Xemnas had just finished scolding Demyx, and was apparently waiting for an explanation. Since Demyx couldn't really think of anything else, he said, "Um…sorry?"

Xemnas sighed heavily, before turning to Saix. "Go find Vexen and bring him to me."

With a short nod, Saix walked off, leaving Demyx alone with an irritated Xemnas.

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After a half hour of searching, Vexen finally decided to see what Luxord was up to. Halting outside of Roxas' room, he heard Roxas and what sounded like Luxord complaining to each other about their bad luck. Knocking on the door, Vexen entered the room to find Roxas and Luxord playing poker…against dusks.

Vexen breathed a sigh of relief, drawing Roxas and Luxord's attention.

"Hey Vexen. Care to join us?" Luxord asked hopefully.

Vexen shook his head. "No thanks. I just came here to get the dusks." Turning his attention to the dusks, he said, "Come on you two. The others are waiting for you."

The two dusks piled their winnings into bags, and dragged them off to follow Vexen out of the room. Behind them, Luxord and Roxas got into a shouting match about whose fault it was for agreeing to play poker, and how they'd come up with that much money again.

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Inside the laboratory, hours later…

Vexen had managed to change all five dusks back into their human forms. They had all thanked him over and over, and had left quickly before Xemnas could find out. Vexen got up out of his chair, and walked over to the lab entrance, wondering what could have happened to the three other dusks.

Exiting into the hall, Vexen halted, spotting Saix several yards away, claymore out and staring intently at him. Remaining calm, Vexen spoke. "It appears that three of the dusks I was supposed to be watching are missing. You don't happen to know where they are, do you?"

Saix gave a faint smile as he traced one of his hands along his weapon. "Dusks…oh yes. Three were following Demyx around, so…" Saix swung his claymore.

_'Killed them then…'_ Vexen thought as he stared at Saix. "Well, what do you want then?"

"Xemnas wants to see you."

Vexen laughed inwardly. He didn't want to see Xemnas for a few weeks. No doubt he was furious about his orders being disobeyed. "And if I don't want to see him?"

Saix smiled again slightly. "Then I suppose I'll have to take you there."

Vexen backed away, summoning his shield as he did. It probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world to provoke Saix.

Saix didn't say anything else. Instead, he dove at Vexen, swinging his claymore. Vexen managed to deflect it with his shield, but it forced him back several feet.

Vexen quickly froze the floor beneath Saix, making the berserker lose his balance and fall over. Vexen stifled laughter at the sight, but knew Saix heard when he snapped and started flinging his weapon.

Vexen dove for cover behind a chair, which absorbed a particularly nasty attack.

The fight went on for several tense minutes. In that time, Saix seemed to forget that he was supposed to be bringing Vexen to Xemnas, and was trying to pulverize the other.

After being slammed against the wall several times, Vexen was hoping that Saix would come to his senses. But he hadn't and Saix swung his weapon down at Vexen.

The weapon all of a sudden stopped, and Saix was suddenly throw against the wall, knocked unconscious.

Vexen glanced up in time to see someone leave the castle. He assumed that it had been one of the former dusks. Standing up, he approached Saix cautiously. Seeing that the other was knocked out, Vexen froze Saix from the waist down, just in case Saix felt murderous upon waking up.

"Vexen!"

Vexen jumped and turned around to find Xemnas storming over towards him. Trying to act as if nothing unusual happened, Vexen asked, "Yes Superior?"

Xemnas gave Vexen an incredulous look, before shaking his head. "You're lucky I have other important matters to deal with instead of you…Return to Castle Oblivion for the time being."

Vexen left without a word.

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Entering Castle Oblivion, the first thing that greeted Vexen was a grinning Marluxia. Vexen ignored the evil smile on the others' face and stalked off towards the laboratory.

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An hour later, Vexen was staring at a card (which looked like Twilight Town). He twisted it back and forth, thinking about giving it to Sora. That would certainly throw Marluxia off. With a laugh, Vexen pocketed the card and left the area. Yes, that would do quite nicely.

Zexion watched Vexen leave, before going back to whatever he had been working on. He wondered what Vexen was up to.

Hours later, Zexion figured out what Vexen had been trying to do. But now that Vexen was gone, plans needed to be changed accordingly. Zexion wandered around in the lower levels to locate Lexaeus to discuss what should be done.

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Hey, I actually finished a story. Anyway, please review and let me know how this chapter turned out, as well as the story as a whole. I'd appreciate it.

I hope to update other stories soon, but I may put up some one-shots as well.


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